Dust
by ardavenport
Summary: Captain Janeway escapes from madness. But her crew is ready at the rescue.
1. Chapter 1

** DUST**

by ardavenport

**

* * *

- - - Part 1**

Janeway coughed, covering her mouth and trying not to stir up more dust that would make her cough again. She held back the coughing fit until tears ran down her face and the urge finally passed. She desperately wanted to take a deep breath but she dared not for fear of inhaling more mildew and dry powder. She would NOT come all this way only to succumb to it now. She couldn't wipe her eyes without rubbing grime into them, her face and her uniform were so filthy. She had given up wiping her nose as well.

She crept forward again, crawling on her stomach, mostly using her arms and shoulders to pull herself along. The vent shaft was just wide enough for her, but not tall enough for her to crawl on her hands and knees. She had tried using her legs by pushing off with her ankles when the pain on her elbows and in her shoulders got to be too much, but it didn't get her very far for very long. The motion was awkward and it made her legs cramp.

How long was this damn shaft anyway? The colony's artificial mountain was fifteen kilometers across at the base and the interior was at least 3 kilometers wide; so probably no more than 6 kilometers. The vent had been blessedly straight; no turns, no curves, no side tunnels, giving her hope that she would emerge outside. Eventually. Not that she could see where she was going in the pitch blackness, but it felt like she had been going straight all this time. She knew it had to lead somewhere. She felt a tingle of new air pushed by some invisible mechanism, just enough to thin its oppressive density and loosen a few fat dust balls.

Janeway broke her crawling rhythm and covered her mouth to keep herself from inhaling the dust she stirred up. A sneeze threatened and she waited for it to pass. She cleared her throat, which was getting hideously raw from the coughing and she couldn't breathe through her nose anymore. Her shoulders ached and the cold, hard stone she crawled on drove into the end-bones of her elbows, even through the material of her uniform and the thick dust layer. She couldn't lie down without putting her nose right in the powdery grit. And it grew even thicker on the walls and ceiling where she dislodged the occasional clump with her shoulder or the top of her head.

After a few more moments of rest, she advanced again, using her legs again this time, putting her weight on her hands and forearms to take the pressure off her elbows. She kept her head down as she advanced, her eyes closed in the blackness. She had seen plenty when she first got into the shaft. These were colonies of dust that she crawled through and destroyed, not just ordinary microscopic debris and accumulation. Big, pinkish balls, like fluffy dandelion heads clung to the walls. Linty, pale greenish blue stalactites hung from above and her path was carpeted with a thick, patterned layer. The dust mites on this world were organized like ants. Their works stifled sound and motion, even as she collapsed their structures. Janeway wondered that she wasn't attacked for all the destruction she had done, consumed into dust herself for dragging her body through their world. But the microscopic dust colonies were apparently too low a form of life to be aware of the source of their destruction. The only sound that survived around her was her own body scraping along the vent. Any noise she made went flat and dead, with no echo at all.

How far had she come? Maybe halfway? Maybe two-thirds? She stifled the optimism and decided it was only halfway. She did not want to give herself any excuse for slowing down. She continued, trying to keep a steady pace, using her legs less and her arms more again.

Captain Janeway just wished she knew if L'San had even discovered that she had escaped. She was sure she had come far enough that any sound of rage or pursuit that the colonist leader might make would not carry to where she was now.

An involuntary trembling momentarily went through her body as she crawled and thought of the colonists. She had been shocked when she'd discovered that she could pry off the cover of the air vent in her cell. Hesitating to take it when she'd seen what was inside, she had crawled in anyway. Unpleasant as it was, if L'San was going to leave such an obvious opening, she would take it. They had not put her in a proper cell; it had been a utility room, pillaged and stripped of anything useful. Janeway doubted that they even realized that when they had activated the weather control mechanisms of their artificial mountain that they had blocked her com badge and _Voyager_'s transporter, trapping her with them. The Senk'vasi were broad and stout, like Pakleds with green skin and two extra arms, so it probably hadn't even occurred to them that their Human prisoner was small enough to escape out the air vent.

The top of her head touched a slightly unyielding surface before breaking though. Clinging strands of the remains stuck to her as she continued forward. Janeway held her breath until she was sure she was past it. The dust sometimes formed thin, porous membranes across the vent and the only thing she could do was keep her head down and push through them. She hated them worst of all. They created huge amounts of airborne particles when they broke apart and she had spent long minutes sneezing and hacking them up the first time she'd run into one. And they reminded her far too much of spider webs and she subconsciously dreaded that there ought to be a spider attached to them, waiting to smother her, to suck her blood, chew her flesh . . .

She shuddered, banishing that primal fear. Then she sneezed, twice. And it hurt because she had to pinch her nose closed to keep from spewing dust back at herself.

She crawled steadily for long minutes in the utter blackness before she couldn't stand the pain in her elbows, and now her knees, anymore. Turning over onto her back, her knees and hips bumped into the walls of the shaft. Clumps of debris fell away around her from the sides of the shaft, breaking up into the air. Her head sank right through the padding of dust onto the hard, smooth floor. More of it fell down into her eyes and nose and mouth. She hastily turned over onto her right side. Another coughing fit took hold and her throat and chest ached from the effort to control it and keep her body still. Her nose ran; more tears streamed down the dirty film on her face, but at last the fit passed.

Breathing shallowly, Janeway held still, her back pressed to the wall. Long strands of hair that had come loose from her bun were now caught behind her, pulling if she turned her head. She lay there until the ache in her right shoulder forced her to slowly turn over onto her stomach again. Along with the other pains and blisters on her elbows, her neck hurt from holding her face up away from the dust while keeping it low enough to avoid the gossamer clusters above. She started to crawl again.

The oppressive darkness was getting claustrophobic. She could feel the weight of the tons of rock and dirt above pressing in on her. The shaft was only as wide as a crypt and silent as a grave. If she died here, would her body be slowly consumed by the dust mites? Would they wait until she stopped breathing to start their work? Janeway clenched her teeth and remembered L'San and her followers, eeking out a last distillation of grief from this failed colony. Their hands twitching, their skin an odious, waxy green, they were sickly imitations of the few healthy survivors in the forest outside who had escaped the degenerate life within the artificial weather mountain and send out a call for help that _Voyager_ answered.

Yesterday, Neelix had been so surprised when she had told him that the ship's sensors found the remains of the colony on this nameless world.

"Senk'vasi living off of their home world? I've never heard of such a thing!" had been the Talaxian's response.

The fourteen Senk'vasi greeted them as rescuers, for they had no functional ships to escape their folly with. They willingly handed over information, equipment and supplies that _Voyager_ could use and which the Senk'vasi badly never wanted to see again in exchange for passage to anyplace where they could get transport home. But they had made one request-that _Voyager_ find out what happened to their comrades who had disappeared into the mountain.

The top of Janeway's head touched another layer of dust. She held her breath and pushed through. Her head hit smoothing hard.

Janeway stopped crawling.

Her fingers crept forward through the dust covering and touched a stone wall in front of her. She didn't move her head as her hands felt the walls to either side of her. A dead end.

She kept still, her mind trapped on the single thought that she would now have to crawl backwards, looking for the side passage that she must have missed, the air getting harder and harder to breathe as she went. She doubted that she could attempt turning around without choking herself, if there was room enough for her to do it at all. Her heart raced.

Damn.

And if she had missed the side passage once, how could she be sure that she wouldn't miss it again? She knew she would have to go much slower, but she didn't know how much more dust and crawling she could stand. Her shoulders, her legs, her neck were sore from her exertion. She knew they would stiffen up if she stopped for anything more than a short rest now. A blister on her left elbow had broken and how long did she have before that got infected? Her throat burned from the dust and coughing. She was incredibly thirsty and probably dehydrated. But she had no hope for rest or relief as long as she was trapped in this tunnel.

Then her mind fixed on one hope . . .

Janeway lifted her head, checking the height of the ceiling. She lifted her shoulders and then her body until she was supporting herself on her hands. She looked up . . .

. . . and saw something.

It wasn't much, just faint, hazy clusters of gray. More dust balls clinging to a ceiling high above her, but they were visible.

Which meant that there was light coming in from somewhere.

She looked up the shaft of a chimney that seemed to lead to another horizontal section. She turned herself around, then brought her legs into the vertical shaft and stood up. It felt wonderful to be on her feet again, but she had to steady herself against a dizzy spell, her hands sinking deep into the plush dust of the walls. This stuff was grainy with clingy filaments like cobwebs and she recoiled from it.

Janeway reached up and her fingertips found the edge above her, almost out of reach. She flexed the muscles of her legs trying to stretch. She placed one foot, then the other on the side wall, jamming her back against the opposite side of the shaft. Her knees were now up against her chest, feet and back pressed deep into the fluff. She could feel round and oblong shapes collapsing as she crept upward, pulling up with her feet, then with her shoulders, then her feet. An avalanche of huge chunks of lint came away down around her and she held her breath as much as possible. It had already covered her, but now it got down into the front of her jumpsuit, under her collar and deep into her boots. She was pulling her hair again and this time she did stop to free it. The rest of her bun came undone, falling apart, like the dust clusters around her, the fasteners coming down onto her shoulders and then disappearing down into darkness under her.

Her hand felt the edge of the upper shaft and her strength increased. Her head pressed deep into the linty globules on the ceiling, crushing them, but her feet still weren't above the edge of the upper shaft. There was much more light around her and she could see the delicate work of the dust mites crumbling, but she kept all of her attention on the wall opposite her. A fall back down into the hole would cost her more than she could afford. Her burning lungs ached for air from her exertion.

With one foot to push her shoulder over the edge, she braced her body, one arm on the floor, one on the ceiling as she plowed through the powdery layers and used both her legs to push herself into the new shaft.

Far ahead of her, Janeway looked at the literal light at the end of the tunnel. Her feet still dangled over the vertical shaft, but she was in no danger of falling in. She dragged herself forward. This new section was exactly the same width and size as the lower one. Except now she could see the hideous accumulation she crawled through again. It was as vile and repellent as tendrils of fungus, but dry and alien. Janeway could hardly smell anything anymore, but it still reminded her of dead, desiccated things. She loathed the thought of how much of it she'd breathed in and swallowed during her coughing fits.

She crawled forward, her body aching, but her goal in sight. The square of light grew in size, crossed bars covering the opening. Janeway could see more colors in the clumps and tendrils of dust, lumps of grainy browns and pinks, and fine veins of green in the blue clusters. Some of them had dark specks showing through them, like tiny seeds. Daylight shone through the square grating at the end of the shaft.

Her hands touched the metal grating, her fingers curling around the narrow bars. Janeway pulled herself forward and then pressed her nose out through one of the square holes, desperate for cleaner air. But the dust and lint she'd stirred up thwarted her and she had to wait until it settled before tentatively taking a breath. The air burned her parched and abused throat. She moaned and that hurt her, too.

Her fingers tightened on the barrier of cris-crossed iron and she tugged on it.

It didn't budge.

Janeway firmed her grip and pushed. The grate didn't move at all. She tried to anchor herself by bracing her knees on either side of the shaft walls, but the positioning was awkward and didn't help much. She pulled and pushed, trying to loosen it, but it was like trying to move the mountain itself. Brushing the dust balls away from the inside edges and out the grate, she ran her fingernails along the seam between rock and metal. There was hardly a crack. Flimsy, wooly clumps cascaded down and disintegrated as she looked for a weakness. She coughed and ducked her head away from the pinkish cloud. It hurt a lot now and her mouth tasted like iron. She managed to stop, and when the dust had settled, she resumed her probing. Dust and grime jammed under her fingernails.

Beyond the rocky, cleared area around the base of the mountain towered the green-blue foliage of the forest of huge, primitive fern-like plants. The grate was about a meter above the ground. Peering out at the surroundings, she saw that the daylight wasn't nearly as bright as she had first thought after hours of total darkness. The sky overhead was thick and gray with low clouds. She heard thunder and a little wind, caused by the weather mechanisms of the mountain.

Janeway pushed on one side of the grate and then the other, and then on the corners, hoping to find a weak spot. But it remained solid.

Her panic and dread returned, stronger this time than when she'd thought she'd hit a dead end. Somehow, dying, suffocating in dust, alone in the dark, was less terrifying than doing it within site of freedom. Her hands began to tremble.

**

* * *

- - - End Part 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**DUST**

by ardavenport

**

* * *

- - - Part 2**

Phaser, tricorder and communicator had been taken away and then smashed when the colonists had first started fighting over her before L'San shoved her aside and then had her locked up. Janeway wondered if she'd come out far enough under the artificial mountain's massive weather-making energies for _Voyager_'s sensors to find her. She clenched her fists and lowered her head, letting her forehead rest on the crossed metal bars. The rest of her hurt so much, it was a negligible discomfort. She wanted out so much, but she would not allow herself to break and wallow in false hope. She closed her eyes against the panic that was keeping her from thinking of the way out that she knew had to be there.

There was a noise of rocks clicking and gravelly crunches. Footsteps? She looked up and saw . . .

. . . Harry Kim.

He stared for a long moment clutching a tripod-a pattern enchancer, or maybe a signal relay, Janeway couldn't see one end behind the field com link he carried as well. She thought about how slow his reaction time was as he stood there gaping at her. Then Ensign Kim dropped his equipment.

"Captain!" He leaped forward, crouching down so that his face blocked the light coming in. "Are you all right?"

"Har-ry." She had almost no voice and she winced from the pain it cost her. Kim's fingers came through the square holes, touching her hands as he grabbed and pulled on the grate. This time she felt it give a tiny bit. He grunted and strained, but only managed to move it a few millimeters.

His face returned. "Don't worry, Captain, we'll get you out." The light returned.

"Commander!" His voice receded as his footsteps stumbled over the rocks. "Commander!" She tried to see where he'd gone, but he left her field of view. A moment later the footsteps returned.

"Captain?" Commander Chakotay looked in at her now. Both he and Kim knelt by the grate. She nodded to them.

"Captain, you need to move your hands," Chakotay and Kims' fingers were coming in through the holes at her and grasping the grate. She let go, pulling her arms back to her. The two officers heaved together and the metal strained and protested. The light coming in to her doubled when it came away on the fourth try and the two men fell back with it.

Janeway crawled forward. Chakotay, on his feet again, reached in, grasping her upper arms, and pulled her out. She cried out from the sudden strain on her shoulders. Slabs of lint slid out with her, spilling onto the ground under her. Her feet slammed down into the rocks when they cleared the shaft and she fell forward into her first officer. Stumbling backward, he kept them from falling and lowered her to the gravel.

Both Chakotay's and Ensign Kim's hands were on her then, brushing away the dirt and grit and dust from her back and shoulders and hair. She added her own feeble attempt to help, but mostly kept her arms over her chest and wondered if Chakotay hadn't dislocated something when he'd pulled her out. She held back a new cough and heard Kim speaking over his com badge to Tuvok on the ship.

"Captain, their weather controls are blocking our transporter, but we've got a shuttle. Can you walk?" Chakotay's voice asked, very close to her ear.

She nodded and tried to answer, but a cough took over instead, searing the inside of her windpipe. It was a horrible, rough and throaty cough, dislodging the congestion that only settled somewhere else. She gasped and wheezed, stifling the urge and the pain. Tears ran down her face from the effort.

"Captain? Captain?" Chakotay's arm encircled her shoulders and she leaned on him while she fought the impulse to cough. His other arm slid under her legs and she felt herself rising up in the air. Her arms, folded close to her chest, grasped the only support available, the front of Chakotay's uniform.

"It's Okay," Chakotay reassured and she stopped moving. "We're going to take you back to the shuttle." The commander sent Kim ahead and followed, carrying her over the rocks and gravel. She clenched a fistful of the black fabric over his chest as the coughing fit subsided to where she could stop it.

She kept still in his arms, her forehead pressed to his shoulder. Having established some kind of equilibrium with her body, she did not want to spoil it by moving. She kept her eyes closed, for long minutes limiting her world to the shallow, careful breaths she took and Chakotay's stable, firm hold on her. The rocks were uneven, but he never missed a step. She had longed for fresh, clean air for so many hours and now it was too painful for her to breathe.

Her body began to tremble. She didn't know why; she wasn't cold.

"It's all right. We're almost there," she heard Chakotay speak softly to her. He had obviously noticed her shaking. She just wished she knew what was causing it. Stress? Exhaustion? She didn't feel that bad. After a moment, the trembling ceased. The sound of Chakotay's footsteps changed from clicking rocks to solid ground, then hollow floor. It suddenly because darker around her and Janeway opened her eyes as he lowered her to the bench in the rear of the shuttle.

As gently as possible Chakotay laid her down, lowering her head to the flat pillow. She didn't speak, but her eyes were aware as she looked around. Ensign Kim already had the medical kit out and spoke to the ship's doctor as he passed the medical scanner over her. Chakotay smoothed the hair and grime away from her face and she unhappily looked back at him without speaking. She was filthy, her face dirty, her long hair matted with pastel lint, her eyes bloodshot. She smelled of dust and decay, her uniform was gray from dust and clinging things. He had bits of it on himself now, too.

All the StarFleet first aid training Chakotay knew kept running through his mind; cuts, bruises, broken bones, crushing injuries but he couldn't think of a single thing for coughing. How many kilometers had she crawled through those vents to get out of the Senk'vasi fortress? His fingertips gently brushed the bits of lint away from her cheeks and forehead as her eyes left his to follow what Ensign Kim was doing.

Harry Kim took the medical kit's hypospray and carefully set it as the doctor impatiently instructed. The doctor's voice then went on, issuing more instructions and pronouncements from above. The commander nodded to the ensign, got up and went to the replicator for a glass of water. His eyes on the settings, checking it again, Kim pressed it to the captain's neck. She winced.

"You're going to be all right, Captain. The doctor says you'll be fine when we get you back to the ship." The words sounded pretty hollow and lame to the young ensign. He didn't feel very confident as a medic and he was uncomfortable with talking down to the Captain.

The doctor snapped at him for another scan and he complied, confirming that he had administered the correct treatment. Captain Janeway had relaxed, the tension leaving her face, her eyes half closed. Chakotay crouched next to them with the water. Kim put a capsule in it, again exactly as the doctor had told him to. It dissolved instantly.

"Carefully, Commander. She may not be able to swallow at first," the doctor instructed as Chakotay supported Janeway's shoulders.

The cup pressed to Janeway's lips so she couldn't get away from it and a trickle of water flowed over her lips and down her chin. She opened her mouth a bit, but it still didn't get in. She wasn't really thirsty anymore, but the wetness felt good. The water stopped.

"Captain, I want you to try to drink this." Chakotay's voice, very close to her again. She saw the cup return again and this time she tried harder. Some spilled out, but most of the water got in this time. He tilted her head back, his fingers massaging under her chin. She closed her eyes. The liquid felt strange and tickled and for a moment she thought she would cough again, but the urge never really formed.

He gave her another sip and this time it went better as her throat remembered how to swallow. It felt cool and wonderful going down, her throat now numb. She swallowed the third, longer drink on her own.

"Not too much for now," The doctor's voice broke in. "You'd better get her back to the ship." Janeway wanted more, but Chakotay lowered her to the bench. She looked up at him as he covered her with a blanket, unfolding it over her and then fastened a safety strap over her middle while Kim fastened another over her legs. Chakotay leaned close over her again.

"Just lie still. We'll have you back on _Voyager_ in a few minutes." She nodded, her eyes closing again. She didn't know if her sudden fatigue was from the injection or perhaps the stress of her capture and escape was finally catching up with her. The sharp pains in her legs, shoulders and elbows had faded into a dull ache, but she didn't think she could get up now. The shot that had killed the pain seemed to have also drained her strength.

They left her to start up the shuttle. Kim secured the hatch and then joined Chakotay with the pre-flight. The shuttle's interior lights came on. The engines started up, the hum and vibrations coming to her through the bench she lay on. It increased slightly when the shuttle lifted off. She listened to Kim and Chakotay through the launch without paying much attention to what they were saying.

The safety straps suddenly pulled on her when the shuttle lurched, up-down, side-to-side. Janeway's eyes opened. The light from the clouds outside reflected inside the shuttle in wildly fluctuating grays. But the internal lights stayed steady. Janeway heard the word 'storm' from Kim. Of course, the Senk'vasi weather mountain was still operating. She craned her neck to look, but all she could see were the clouds through the forward view port and the back of Chakotay's head and chair. The shuttle bucked again and, feeling a returning cramp in her neck, she laid her head back down again, unable to do anything more than ride it out.

The jostling only lasted another minute, then Kim announced that they had cleared the clouds. The inertial dampeners compensated easily for the smooth rise upward, and the interior of the shuttle became as still as if it were sitting on the ground again. Janeway's thoughts wandered. She would have to endure some time in Sickbay, but hopefully not too much. After Sickbay, she could retire to her cabin and a nice hot bath. But she would have to shower off the remains of all that dust before getting into the tub or the water would dirty up with it immediately. And could she trust the ship's auto-cleaning to handle it? Even the tiniest remains would dry up and start to grow again . . .

Ensign Kim heard the noise first. He looked behind him and saw that the captain had dislodged the blanket and was tugging on the strap over her body. Chakotay saw him look and turned to look as well.

"Take the controls," the commander said as he got up and went to the back of the shuttle. Janeway was trying to slide out from under the straps without much success.

"Hey." He placed his hands on her narrow shoulders and she looked past him through a tangle of hair. "Try not to move around. We'll be in transporter range in a few minutes." She didn't and kept pulling against the strap to get up. He brushed her bangs aside and her mouth moved, her bloodshot eyes wide, fearful. Had the rough take-off injured her somehow after all?

"Uugh thuu..." He gently pressed her back down.

"Shh, the doctor said you shouldn't try to talk." He continued to stroke her hair, keeping it from falling back over her face and hoping that it would calm her, but she wouldn't lie still.

"No," she moaned, her voice very whispery and rough. He leaned closer to hear her. "The dust...It'll contaminate _Voyager_." Her head stopped moving; she stared right back at him now. "It grows in colonies. I've got it all over me."

She shivered. Her hand touched him, where pale bits of lint littered the black front of his uniform from when he'd carried her. The cuff of her uniform was flecked gray from it, inside and out. He took her wrist, tiny in his larger hand, laid it back down on her chest and covered her hand with his palm.

"The transporter should filter it out when we beam you over."

She grimaced. "No. It's dangerous. It filled up the air vents into the mountain. Contaminated the air supply." She paused, speaking clearly difficult for her. "That's why they went mad inside. There's something in the dust."

"All right." He told her, his face centimeters from hers. "We won't beam over until we've checked it out. But you have to lie still." She licked her lips, her gaze on him wavering as if thinking it over before she nodded.

He pulled the blanket up over her again and her fingers clasped the edge of it lying over her chest. "I'll let you know what we find out."

"I don't want that stuff on the ship," she whispered back to him.

He nodded, his touch lingering a moment. Her eyes flicked down and her fingers touched his, a silent thanks. He smiled to her and got up, returning to the pilot's seat.

**

* * *

- - - End Part 2**


	3. Chapter 3

**DUST**

by ardavenport

**

* * *

- - - Part 3**

"We're entering transporter range with _Voyager_," Ensign Kim announced next to him.

"We'll have to put a hold on that. Let me talk to the doctor again." Kim looked puzzled as the com brought the doctor's voice back.

"We might have a contamination problem, here. Captain Janeway crawled out of the Senk'vasi mountain through one of the air vents. She said that the vents were filled with dust colonies and she was covered with it when she got out."

"Yes, you mentioned that, Commander," the doctor responded impatiently.

"She thinks it has something to do with what went wrong with the Senk'vasi in the mountain. That it contaminated their air supply and drove them mad somehow."

"Hmmmmm. That would be plausible."

"I want you to beam up samples of it from the coordinates where we found the captain and find out if it's any kind of threat to _Voyager_. We'll wait to beam over until you can tell us it's safe."

"A sensible precaution. I'll get right on it," the doctor agreed and signed off.

Ensign Kim had his tricorder out and was aiming it at a big piece of lint on Chakotay's shoulder. He plucked it off and gave it to the junior officer. He had tried to brush the stuff off when they'd first gotten back to the shuttle, but it was useless; it clung like cobwebs.

Chakotay waited. A star on the planet horizon under them grew large and became _Voyager_. He lined the shuttle up with the starship, but not too close, so that the other two shuttle search teams returning from the planet could dock ahead of them. Next to him, Kim continued to study the bit of lint that now rested on the tricorder, his dark hair bowed over it. Chakotay finished matching the shuttle's orbit with _Voyager_'s, making minor adjustments to the controls and then looked out at the space-and-stars over white-clouded-planet scene around their craft.

"Well?" he finally asked. Kim shook his head.

"It's similar to the other primative lifeforms on the planet. There's definitely an organized structure to it. It's not random bits of dust; the microscopic organisms interlock with each other into a kind of lattice. And it's formed around specks of dirt that make the lattice stronger."

"Is it harmful?" Chakotay asked, wanting him to get to the point. Kim shook his head again.

"Most of the organisms here are dead; it doesn't look like they live long and the dead ones just go into reinforcing the lattice structure. But there isn't anything here smaller than five microns. The transporter should filter it out easily."

"Well, that's something."

Kim's head turned back to where the captain lay. They had both heard the doctor when he'd declared Janeway's condition non-life-threatening, but serious enough for them to need to get her to Sickbay as soon as possible.

"Do you think the captain's all right? That this stuff caused the colony to go bad down there on the planet?"

Chakotay shrugged without looking back. "I guess it's possible."

Kim got the hint that his senior officer wasn't interested in conversation and he went back to studying his lint.

Chakotay checked all the status indicators on the shuttle's engines and thought about going back to check on the captain again. He glanced that way, but she wasn't moving.

"_Voyager_ to Commander Chakotay," the doctor's voice finally broke the wait.

"Chakotay here."

"Are you seated at the controls, Commander?"

"Yes."

"And Captain Janeway is in the back of the shuttle and cannot hear this?"

Frowning, Chakotay glanced back that way. "Yes."

"Good. I want you to get the hypospray from the medical kit." Chakotay and Kim looked at each other, puzzled by the doctor's strange line of questions.

"Just a minute." The commander got up. Kim had tidily put everything in it away and left it on the opposite bench from Janeway. He saw Janeway watching him out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't look back as he picked it up and headed back to the front of the shuttle to his seat again.

"I've got it," he answered, taking the hypospray out of the kit. Concerned, Kim glanced back toward the captain and then to the commander.

"Good. I want you to set it for seven cc's of pethoramine and inject the captain with it."

"Why?" Chakotay demanded, having no intention of treating the captain for anything he didn't know about first.

"It seems that the captain was correct about the effects of the dust in the Senk'vasi ventilation system. It's harmless by itself if either live or dead specimens are inhaled, but if the live ones die in a wet environment, such as the mouth or esophagus of a humanoid, their decomposition produces a psychoactive substance. I presume that the Senk'vasi have been ingesting small quantities of it in their air supply and have suffered its effects over time. The captain however, has been massively exposed and I estimate that the effects of this exposure to become manifest at any time. I frankly recommend that she be sedated now before she becomes psychotic, if she isn't already. But first, I do want you to confirm the presence of the psychoactive agent, now that I know what to tell you to look for."

"Is this stuff some kind of mutation? Is it something the Senk'vasi brought with them to the planet?" the commander asked.

"No, it appears to be native to the planet. The colonists don't seem to have been very careful in surveying this world and its possible hazards before making themselves at home."

"All right." Chakotay swallowed, set the hypospray and got up. Kim, eyes wide with alarm, got the medical tricorder from the kit, instructions from the doctor, and followed him.

Janeway looked up at them as they knelt down. Her eyes glinted from the lights above her. Her hands, still clutching the edge of the blanket, trembled, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Wha...?"

Chakotay laid his hand on her shoulder, the hypospray hidden in his other hand. "Shh, the doctor's still checking. He wants us to check you out again while we're waiting."

"Oh." She nodded while Kim passed the scanner over her lint-covered head. Chakotay's impatient glare stayed on the ensign while he fiddled with the tricorder. Kim bit his lip, his eyes meeting Chakotay's and he nodded. Playing medic to the captain's injuries had been bad enough, but this was worse. It just didn't seem right to Kim to do this to her.

"Uhh . . . ?" Janeway's eyes widened when the hypospray hissed against her neck. Then they closed, her head lolling to the side. Both Kim and Chakotay exhaled. Chakotay tapped his com badge.

"All right, Doctor, she's out. Can we transport the captain to Sickbay now?"

"Yes," the doctor answered cheerfully. "The transporter will filter out all the dust. You and ensign Kim will have to transport directly to Sickbay as well since you've been exposed."

"Fine. Prepare for transport."

**

* * *

- - - End Part 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**DUST**

by ardavenport

**

* * *

- - - Part 4**

Janeway entered the galley. The room was clean and bright with people sitting at tables chatting, cheerful. Janeway had to walk around a large potted bush in the middle of the room. It was just about to flower and Kes had to have it near for the momentous event. Janeway just wished someone would do a better job at cleaning up the dead leaves at its base.

The captain took a table by herself and Neelix immediately appeared with a tray heaped with offerings. He laid before her a plate of orange pasta, spilling over the sides, noodles slithering down to the table. Topping it with three different sauces, he then added two vegetable dishes, bread, relish and more. She couldn't get him to stop or even squeeze in a word through Neelix's babbling about having a healthy meal and how long he'd worked to prepare it. Kes appeared with another tray and Janeway asked her to do something about her bush. The food did smell good, but she wasn't _that_ hungry, and people were starting to stare.

Janeway felt something wet in her lap. The noodles had gotten off the plate and were wiggling in her lap with their sauce. Obviously they weren't cooked well enough. Neelix didn't even notice. She brushed them off, but they only curled around her legs and continued to wiggle. A whole cake that Neelix had brought for dessert dissolved into crumbs and joined the noodles in her boots.

She trembled. This wasn't just uncomfortable now. She felt like she was being nibbled at. And now Neelix was pouring sauce on her arm now. It was too hot and he was talking about how nicely it would cook. What? Her _arm_? Her body jerked away from the table-

"Captain!"

The doctor's voice paralyzed her, his round head blocking the bright lights from above. The crawly sensation had spread to all her limbs, all over her skin, under her uniform and between her fingers and toes. But she couldn't get up. She looked down her body. Her uniform had vanished and she was covered in blue. The doctor still spoke to her, his hand coming down on her. Kes's head appeared, joining the doctor's.

Kes!

"Kes?" she whispered. Kes's hand descended to her forehead as well.

"It's alright, Captain. The doctor's found an anti-toxin to the dust from the planet. But you have to lie still. Just relax."

"Kes! My boots!" Kes didn't answer. "Neelix's cake is still in them!"

The Ocampa's pale gaze became worried. Oh, no, she didn't understand! Beyond Kes, Janeway saw Chakotay and Kim, the same look of confusion on their faces. She tried to tell them about her boots and that they had to get Neelix's undercooked noodles back in the pot before they got all over the ship. They both looked very worried now, but they didn't do anything. She tried to rise again. If she could just get up and get to them before it was too late!

The doctor's hand descended on her again . . .

Chakotay looked on. Next to him, Kim did the same, both of them staying back where the doctor had told them to after he lost his patience with their hovering. Now neither of them wanted to get too close.

The commander had objected to the doctor's force field restraint, but now it seemed that it had been necessary after all. The doctor had examined them after initially treating the captain and then made them wait for the test results. The two officers watched from behind Kes as she assisted the medical holographic program with their patient, who now lay still again. The transporter had removed the dust from them and the captain. But it had left Janeway disheveled, her long reddish-brown hair disarrayed around her head on the pillow. The doctor finished with the captain and turned to them.

"Is she going to be all right?" Chakotay asked.

"Oh, yes," the holographic doctor answered confidently. " I've administered the anti-toxin, but it will still take at least six hours to flush most of the poisons out of her system. And she'll have to stay in Sickbay for another day, in case there are any lingering side-effects." Behind him, Kes administered to the captain. "It's fortunate that you found her when you did. The effects of the toxins were just becoming apparent. Left alone, she could have easily injured herself."

Chakotay remembered carrying her to the shuttle. She had not looked very bad when Kim had first found her, but she'd seemed to deteriorate. She had hardly moved in his arms when he carried her, and when she began to tremble he had started to worry. He felt unsatisfied now that she still lay unconscious from her ordeal, as if his rescue would not be complete until she was well.

"Well, if you're finished with the captain, then can Mister Kim and I leave now?" Duty would be a good distraction, especially since he now needed to fill in for Janeway.

"Well, let's see." The doctor walked past them and consulted a computer terminal. "Your test results are negative. Your exposure to the dust was minimal. You're perfectly healthy Commander, Ensign." The doctor nodded his bald head toward each of them, his lined face grave. "You may now get out of my Sickbay," he instructed pleasantly.

Chakotay and Kim both ignored the doctor's dismissal. They headed for the door.

"I want to be notified when the captain wakes up," Chakotay said before leaving. The doctor only sighed as the door closed behind the two nuisance officers.

**

* * *

- - - End Part 4**


	5. Chapter 5

**DUST**

by ardavenport

**

* * *

- - - Part 5**

Captain Kathryn Janeway was not hungry.

"You can have anything you like." Kes prompted, her expression earnest. One small perk to being in Sickbay was that patients got replicated meals, instead of having to make do with the Neelix-Surprise in the mess hall. Janeway frowned at the prospect anyway.

"Just so long as you have something," the doctor reminded. She had not been awake for more than fifteen minutes and they were now pushing breakfast on her. Janeway just wanted to skip it; the idea of putting food in her stomach made her queasy.

"Coffee," she demanded.

"Anything but that."

Janeway glared up at the self-important physician program. She looked down at the small table they had seated her at. Well, if the food really did make her sick, the doctor would be responsible for taking care of it. She acquiesced and asked for something that sounded the least offensive to her. A moment later Kes returned with a tray of strawberries and cream, toast and jam, and orange juice. Commander Chakotay arrived at the same time as the food. The doctor grumbled, but he was always unhappy about having visitors cluttering up his Sickbay.

"Well, you can at least do something useful while you're here and make sure Captain Janeway eats her breakfast." The captain glared up at both of them.

Smiling, Chakotay took the seat next to her. In the blue Sickbay pajamas, her long hair hanging down over her shoulders, he thought Janeway looked like an errant school girl. Her eyes followed the doctor and Kes, who left to go to the doctor's office. Chakotay offered up a few comments about ship operations. Janeway's tight-lipped frown lightened immediately and she asked about B'Elanna Torres' latest project in Engineering, rebuilding the power couplings to the ship's environment systems.

"There have been a few setbacks, but she thinks she has a few ways to work around them," he answered, deliberately vague, his eyes going down to the bowl of strawberries and the untouched fork next to it. The ends of the captain's lips curled downward again. Chakotay forced his expression to neutral. He really couldn't blame her; he knew he'd feel the same way if he were in her position. He _hated_ being in Sickbay, where he would have to lie down on command and let someone prod, probe and inject him. Her expression inspired sympathy and fondness for her in him. But he knew her well enough that she wasn't in the mood for either, so he kept a straight face.

She picked up the orange juice and sipped it. Then she picked up the fork and asked about the setback's in Lieutenant Torres' project. He filled her in while she ate a few sliced strawberries. Then he mentioned some requests for duty shift changes he had gotten from some crew members while she tested the toast. Chakotay did most of the talking, but only when she was eating. More like nibbling he thought. She ate very, very slowly, totally uninterested in the food, really only tolerating it. She had barely gotten halfway through the small meal when he got to their Senk'vasi passengers.

"I told them about the dust. They didn't know anything about it. It's indigenous to the planet, but apparently they didn't do a very thorough microbial survey before setting up the colony. The air duct system of their mountain was a perfect place for the dust to grow, but they hadn't installed any sensors in their environmental systems."

"Hmm." Janeway stared down at the bowl, the fork hanging from her slender fingers into the remains of the strawberries and cream.

"They're very concerned about their friends on the planet after I told them . . . I'm afraid we stopped receiving any life signs from inside the weather mountain." Janeway had been the last person to see any of the Senk'vasi on the planet alive, however Chakotay did not want this to turn into a de-briefing, not while the she was still in Sickbay. But he still had to report this development to her.

"The mountain's weather modification systems are still running, and that could be interfering with our sensors, but Ensign Kim doesn't think so. I told our guests that you would speak to them when the doctor cleared you from Sickbay."

The fork dropped, clinking on the bowl before clattering down onto the tray. Janeway quickly turned away, her hands going to cover her mouth.

"Doctor!" Chakotay came around the table and knelt before her, not really sure what he could do if she were going to be ill. Her eyes looked down past him, her expression so horrified that Chakotay looked over his shoulder, but there was nothing there. His hand hovered close but since he didn't know what was wrong he was afraid to touch her. The blue pajamas hung loosely down from her narrow shoulders as she hunched forward.

"Kathryn..." he whispered.

The doctor and Kes came around. Kes knelt while the doctor frowned and peered over her with his medical scanner.

"What happened?" the doctor asked.

"I don't know. She just suddenly stopped eating."

"Captain...?" Kes touched the captain's arm. One hand fell away from Janeway's mouth to her lap. She held the other up, palm out to them, as if to weakly ward off their concern. She shut her eyes, briefly, and took a deep breath.

"I'm all right."

"Hmm." The doctor looked at his scanner critically, and then down over the top of her head. "Well, I can't really disagree with you, other than what's already wrong with you." Then he glowered down at the half finished meal. "Except for not eating properly."

Janeway closed her eyes again, as if she had received a physical blow.

"Doctor." Chakotay warned.

Janeway held her palm up again, then laid her hand on his arm. This time his hands closed over her much smaller one, clasping it for a moment before she turned back to the table. She nudged the tray of food away from her. Just the smell of it was more than she wanted to deal with. She took a few more breaths and that made her feel a little better. She could feel Chakotay on one side of her, Kes on the other, close to her. Kes's hand rested on her arm, Chakotay's on her shoulder, warming her skin through the fabric of the pajamas. That was all she wore, plus a pair of soft, blue slippers between her bare feet and the cold deck.

"I think there were about thirty people still left alive in there, when I escaped."

"Cunatz said there were supposed to be over six-hundred." Chakotay spoke of the leader of the handful of Senk'vasi that they had taken aboard _Voyager_. Janeway nodded.

"They were hiding how many of them were still left. We only saw three of them when we first contacted them," she reminded him. "But when I actually went down there, I could tell right away that the place was...empty. And there was a smell of decay everywhere. My tricorder said it was just dust, harmless micro-organisms."

"Is that how you knew that was what caused them to go mad?" Chakotay asked. He knelt beside her chair, looking up at her.

"I'm not sure how I knew." She shook her head slowly. "When I was crawling out through the air vent, it just repelled me so much. And then in the shuttle, when I thought we were going to bring it about _Voyager_, I just knew that it was the dust." She lowered her head, and pressed her hands together in her lap. She could remember everything that had happened in the shuttle, and some of her delusions in Sickbay. She cringed to think of what she'd babbled then, and embarrassed that the witnesses were all standing around her now. But Janeway was amazed that she had still been somehow lucid enough to sub-consciously connect her own dementia with what had happened to the Senk'vasi on the planet.

"After they cut me off from Mister Kim and Tuvok," she went on, "they took me below. They were convinced that they had become poisoned by the planet, and that the only way to purify themselves was to cut themselves off from it. Create their own world from only things from their home world."

They had made a rat's nest of salvaged parts for themselves down in the middle of their mountain where they carried her. They never let her walk anywhere, fearful that she would touch and contaminate their lair. Four Senk'vasi would always grab her arms and legs and carry her. And when she stood in their midst she was always surrounded by their hands, four to each Senk'vasi, sickly green and yellow fingers poking her, touching her everywhere, her own two arms unable to fend them off. If she struggled, that just exposed more places for them to touch. It had been complete bedlam until L'San separated her from the group.

They had formed a ring around her to pass judgement on whether or not she was pure enough. Nothing she said about _Voyager_ taking them away from the colony had made any impact on them. They had become so self-involved, fixed only upon their own purity and the evil planet around them, that she didn't think that they really comprehended the idea of leaving. Then she noticed two smaller ones, huddled in the crowd, their eyes staring and fixed on her while each gnawed at the bones of a forearm, the hands at the ends still intact.

"The food supply had been contaminated. Or at least that's what they thought. And the only thing left that was pure enough for them to eat . . . was each other." Janeway stared forward, frightened anew by what she had seen and by her own selective memory to not think about it until now.

The Senk'vasi had degenerated into argument over her to the point where blows where struck and one unlucky victim had gone down. The whole room had frozen, transfixed by the blood on the floor. Then they landed on the still moaning individual like a pack of hounds. Janeway had almost been crushed in the frenzy. L'San had furiously ordered the source of the argument be removed and locked away. Her guards carried her off, threw her into the disused utility room and left, their footsteps hurrying back to where the screaming came from.

Sometime when she was crawling away through kilometers of dust and darkness, her mind had simply ceased to think about what she was escaping from.

Kes's hand left her. Janeway heard the tray scrape on the table as the Ocampa picked it up and took it away, walking around the doctor, who remained silent. No one had spoken while the captain recounted what had happened; even the self-important doctor kept silent.

Janeway thought that after what had happened to her that she really ought to speak to a counselor. She had before she commanded _Voyager_, after other, horrific away missions. But _Voyager_ did not have a counselor, since they had not expected to get lost on the other end of the galaxy on their first assignment. The only individual on board even remotely qualified was the ship's medical holographic system, and as he was, the artificial doctor was more likely to pass on his own programmed neuroses than help them in others with their problems.

Janeway bit her lip and covered her mouth with her hand. She hid her impulse to laugh and she wondered if this sudden emotional reverse wasn't another subconscious distraction from the tragedy she witnessed. Her mirth faltered over the possibility that she might be avoiding her own fear, especially since her responsibilities to the Senk'vasi were not finished.

"I think that the captain should rest now," the doctor announced. She sat still, not looking up or responding to the words. Chakotay, who had not moved from her side, laid his arm behind her back, his other hand on her arm.

"Captain?" She heard his voice close to her. Janeway wanted nothing more than to really rest, alone, by herself where she could sort out her own thoughts without others monitoring her, something that was impossible in Sickbay.

"I have to speak with Cunatz and the others and tell them what happened," she responded to Chakotay.

"I know," he agreed, his dark eyes solemn. "But maybe, if you couldn't remember what happened on the planet until now, . . . maybe you're trying to tell yourself that you need more time to take it all in, to center yourself again."

"I didn't block it out," she denied, certain that she wasn't that far gone and sure that she could not afford to be. "I just . . . didn't think about it."

"Captain-"

"Uuh?" Janeway started when she heard Kes's voice, not having realized that the pale Ocampa had returned. At once, she was irritated and frustrated with herself for being so jumpy.

"Captain." Kes's small hands covered her own. I know that you want to face this now and put it behind you as soon a possible."

Janeway looked back into Kes's earnest, blue eyes.

"But perhaps now is the best time for you to stop and think about what you need to do first," her deep, melodic voice counseled.

Kes on one side, Chakotay on the other, the doctor standing over them, Janeway felt outnumbered, pressured from all sides. Keeping silent, she lowered her eyes, stretching out the moment of indecision. She really did not want to speak to Cunatz and repeat the grim story she had just told, but she feared that resting now was just an excuse for avoiding the meeting completely, and she would not tolerate such weakness in herself.

Kes squeezed her hands. Chakotay rubbed her shoulder and she realized she had tensed up. She let her shoulders drop, giving up the conflict. She wasn't ready to speak to Cunatz yet about it. She nodded.

"All right."

Kes squeezed her hands again. "Come on. You should lie down."

Janeway sat still. She would have appreciated some dispassionate discourse from Tuvok at the moment. At worst he might sigh with impatience over the temperament of a Human and would recommend that she meditate over the trauma she had experienced. He would not attempt to sooth or lighten her emotions; he would counsel only on benefits and risks of future actions and confidently leave her to sort out her own emotions. Janeway realized that she should really speak to Tuvok first before talking to the Senk'vasi survivors on board _Voyager_. After she got out of Sickbay.

Chakotay's hands rested now on her upper arms, prompting her to rise. She got up and let them lead her to a biobed. Chakotay helped her up.

"You'll have to tell Cunatz what happened. I think they must have all killed each other after they found out I was gone, especially if the sensors aren't picking up any life signs." Chakotay agreed and she lay down on her side, resting her head on the flat, marginally comfortable pillow. She heard the increased hum of the medical monitors over her. Kes covered her with a smooth, sterile blanket and Janeway missed the soft comforter in her cabin. She wondered how distraught she must have sounded to Kes and Chakotay when she told them about what happened on the planet that would make them so careful with her now. And she had been incoherent in Sickbay the day after Chakotay had carried her to the shuttle on the planet and brought her back to the ship with Kim.

"Someone will be here if you need anything," Kes told her, her low voice close. Janeway nodded, and then...

"Thank-you." She met Kes's sympathetic gaze and then Chakotay's. She didn't want to shut them out.

"Rest," Kes told her and they left her alone. Janeway sighed and let her eyes close. She could at least pretend that she was alone in Sickbay. The doctor had kept his mouth shut after she agreed to rest, so he would presumably leave her alone as well. She shifted position, and brushed her long hair back away from her face. She felt a few twinges from her exertions from the day before, but otherwise her injuries were miraculously gone; the doctor's work. It distanced her from the hours of crawling in total blackness, the pains in her elbows and knees and the dry coughing fits. She tried to think, but everything ran together into a gray blur. The dust and grime, the long, dark vent, the shuttle ride, and the Senk'vasi, their hands surrounding her. She couldn't find the energy to feel anything about any of it anymore. Maybe that was good, she thought. Janeway's memory went back to the beginning, when she'd first beamed down to the Senk'vasi colony . . .

Five minutes later, when Kes checked on the captain, the medical monitors over her head showed that she was sound asleep.

**

* * *

- - - End Part 5**


	6. Chapter 6

**DUST**

by ardavenport

**

* * *

- - - Part 6**

"Captain!"

"At ease, Lieutenant," she said through the filter mask that covered her nose and mouth. Torres, and all the other members of the work crew wore them as well. The particulate levels were very low in the upper areas of the Senk'vasi mountain, but having established the potential dangers of the dust from the colony's ventilation system, they weren't taking any chances. The doctor had called it 'sick building syndrome', something that had been discovered on Earth by civil engineers centuries ago, when the architecture itself became the host for airborne diseases, toxins and allergens.

Someone shouted and a huge plate fell with a clang to the floor. Torres turned long enough to see that no one was hurt and then yell at them to be more careful. Janeway strolled forward to view the work.

With the permission of Cunatz and rest of the Senk'vasi survivors on board the ship, a couple of well placed phaser blasts from the ship had shut off the weather system without serious damage. They had beamed down away teams that were now dismantling the useful portions of the weather control mechanisms to take back to _Voyager_.

B'Elanna Torres attentively stayed with the captain as they passed through the cavernous room. The engineer described the materials and equipment they expected to take back to the ship. Small groups of crew members worked at taking things apart with phaser welders and anti-gravs. Several people paused when they saw Janeway and then busily returned to their tasks. Janeway ignored the looks of concern.

The doctor had released her from Sickbay that morning with the usual warnings about light duty and such. Janeway had ignored the advice and gone straight to the bridge. The only way she was going to dispel all the gossip about her being deathly ill, and probably crazy, was to get back to duty so people could see that wasn't so. Not that Janeway thought that Kim or Kes or Chakotay would gossip, but Kim would talk to Paris who would mention it to the three women he was dating, and Chakotay would confide to Torres and Ayala, who would say something to seven other people, etc. And Kes would talk to Neelix. Intimate and imagined details of Janeway's health would be all over the ship by the end of lunch.

Tuvok had not approved of her returning to the planet. He had only once politely asked after her health when she had first arrived on the bridge, for which she was grateful. Then, in her ready room, he had calmly stated that he thought it was an unnecessary security risk for the ship's captain to return to the planet. But Janeway knew she had to. If she didn't, she would always wonder if she hadn't avoided it out of fear.

After reviewing the ship's status from the bridge, and then logging her report of her experiences on the planet, she spoke with the Senk'vasi survivors and offered her condolences. They had already been to the planet to observe their own death rites and returned by then. Somewhere down below them, Cunatz and his comrades had covered and destroyed all the bodies with borrowed phasers, marked all the entrances with warnings and sealed the doors. L'San and all the others who had gone mad in their mountain had gruesomely died the day before. _Voyager_ would take Cunatz and his group to a neutral planet where they would find their own transport to their home world. Janeway doubted that the Senk'vasi would ever found another colony again.

Torres jumped ahead of Janeway and pushed a tangle of cable out of the way as they passed between two massive, gray support columns. Janeway sighed, but didn't criticize Torres' nervous protectiveness. The ship's gossip about her injuries must have been more exaggerated than usual.

'Captain!" Commander Chakotay emerged from one work group, silvery mask covering his nose and mouth like all the others. Janeway held up a hand to hold off his concern. If he frowned, the mask hid it.

"Just checking on your progress, Commander. B'Elanna was telling me that you should be able to modify some of these for replacements for several of our plasma conduits." He exchanged a look with Torres before following up what the engineer had already been saying.

"We should be finished in about three days," he concluded, handing her a note padd with a preliminary manifest glowing on its screen. Janeway keyed down the list and then handed it back to him.

"Looks like things are well in hand," she approved and moved on. This time Chakotay followed her, Torres returning to the salvage work, effectively passing the captain on to the first officer.

Janeway walked the length of the work area of the huge room and then back again. The big, echoing chamber of the weather-making engines reminded her a bit of the living area down below; the architecture was the same. If Cunatz hadn't sealed the doors, she might have considered going there.

"I think we've got everything under control here," Chakotay dropped the hint that she might return to the ship. She just stood there, gazing up at a giant, gleaming generator suspended from the ceiling. The surviving Senk'vasi had given them leave to salvage anything they wished but it was too big to use on _Voyager_ though several of it's power relays would end up on the starship.

"They must have had great hope for this colony when they built all this." She imagined throngs of Senk'vasi engineers and colonists cheering and admiring their work, proud of their new beginning as they fired up the generators, their first step in mastering their new world. The original colony personnel had numbered over twelve hundred individuals. "They hardly got to use any of this." She dropped her eyes. "Now we're just cannibalizing what's left."

Chakotay stood close, just behind her. He raised his hand, paused and then rested it on her narrow shoulder. Her hair was now confined in its usual bun, her trim, black and red uniform perfectly tidy. Nothing like the tiny, grimy-haired woman he had carried to a shuttle three days ago, it seemed as if this moment of silence was her time to lay that episode behind her. A ritual of silence that he patiently waited for her to complete.

The expression around her eyes went from sad to not-sad. She tapped the com badge on her chest to signal _Voyager_ that she was ready to return to the ship. Then her hand went to touch his fingers, she looked into his eyes and gave him a not-sad smile.

"Carry on, Commander."

**

* * *

END**

**

* * *

Note:** This story was written by me and first printed (under the name 'Anne Davenport') in_ Delta Quadrant 4_, a fanzine back in the hard-copy and snail-mail days, in 1997.

**Disclaimer:** All characters and situations belong to Paramount; I'm just playing in that sandbox.


End file.
